Red Riding Hood Symbolism

The story of Little Red Riding Hood and the underlying meaning may be surprising to readers because none would expect for the original story to have sexual and even biblical analogies. The Grimm brothers’ version of this fairytale uses symbolism to uncover the true meaning behind the girl and her red cap.
In the beginning, a “sweet little girl” is given a red hood by her grandmother. The hood, covering her head, symbolizes her youth. However the bold red color implies that this young girl is soon to transition through adolescence, as the color red also symbolizes seduction or maybe even menstruation-- which is a significant factor of becoming a woman. As the girl goes to visit her grandmother, she delivers a cake and a bottle of wine. A bottle of wine can be viewed as a phallic symbol, which plays a role later when she gives the bottle of wine to the wolf, who is disguised as her grandmother. Secondly, the setting of the story, the woods/forest is another major symbol of danger and female purity. Little Red Riding Hood is traveling through the woods which symbolizes two things: danger and female purity. The wolf represents the danger because he is a threat to the girl and to her grandmother. Female purity is
This has a close parallel to Christianity where she dies and is resurrected not long after. This allegory is shown in the fairytale where the girl and her grandmother is swallowed and essentially “dies” but is resurrected by the huntsman and are symbolically born again. They both get saved by a hero, which is thus represented by the huntsman. This huntsman clearly is presented as this heroic, Christian figure when he says: “So here I find you, you old sinner…I have been hunting you for a long time.” Since the huntsman refers to the wolf as a sinner, it has a direct connection with Christianity; thus the huntsman wants to get rid of sin by saving and “resurrecting” the